Silver Oberst, 18, District 7 Tribute POV

I find my allies waiting for lightning to strike.

They're by the tree, exactly where I'd hoped to find them. Régine has her bow raised but she lowers it when she sees me. Sankie is studying the tree with wide, curious eyes. Fawkes is lying down, a safe distance from the tree.

"What happened?" Régine asks.

"They're both dead," I say.

"Just Eidolon and Houghton left," Régine says, looking worried. I know what she's thinking.

Once those two boys die, we'll be the only ones left. They'll expect us to fight.

"If they both die," I say. "I'll give you a few hours. I'll turn and run. You can hunt me… or you can wait to be hunted."

Régine smiles. We both know that, if our plan succeeds, we'll both be out of the arena before we need to start hunting each other.

"I want to talk," I say. "About… romance."

"Romance?" Fawkes sits up, suddenly. Then he cries out in pain.

"Régine, have you bandaged his leg?" I ask.

"I have," she says. "But I'm terrible at medical stuff."

I kneel down beside Fawkes and examine Régine's clumsy bandages around his leg. They're soaked through with blood. I open up my medical kit and get to work.

"What's this about romance?" Fawkes asks, trying not to look at his injury.

"I kissed Drachma," I say. "Before you ask, it was because she asked me to. She was dying and I was… curious. I don't have any feelings for her. It felt strange and… confusing. I don't even know why people even like kissing. I felt the same way with Moss."

Régine smiles, "I felt the same way with boys. No matter how nice they were, it always felt wrong. Have you ever felt attraction towards anyone? Have you ever wanted to be with someone?"

"I want to be with you guys," I say.

Fawkes and Régine exchange glances and smile.

"She means romantically," Fawkes says. "Like… on a date."

"No," I say, hurriedly. "No. Ugh. No dates."

"You could be asexual or aromantic or both" Fawkes says. "Some people just aren't attracted to anyone, regardless of gender. It doesn't mean you're wrong or broken or anything. It's just like having a different hair colour to most people. It happens naturally. There are probably asexual people in every district, even the Capitol. Most of them probably don't know it."

"How do you know this?" I ask. Growing up in District 1, I only found out that some boys liked to be with other boys when I was a teenager. I was taught that everyone was either normal or wrong. I'm just glad that I realised that normal people in District 1 were perfect, gorgeous maniacs and accepted anyone who didn't fit into their mould.

Fawkes smiles. "District 3's a pretty open place. We're all crammed together with easy access to the internet. When I was younger, I wasn't quite sure if I was straight or gay because I had crushes on everyone. Eventually, I went looking for answers and I found kids at my school and in my neighbourhood who were willing to help me. I figured out I was bi but that didn't mean I stopped listening to people who only liked one gender - or neither. I just wanted to be around other people, to learn from them and hear their stories. I thought I could help them. I thought I could support all the people who didn't have the confidence to come out, even if all I did was brighten up someone's day a little. I… I miss being that person, who thought it was so easy to make people happy. I miss my home so much."

I focus on bandaging Fawkes' leg so nobody can see the tears in my eyes. I hated being raised in District 1 so much. I was so unhappy and lonely. But, if I'd been born in the neighbouring district to the north, I could've had a happy childhood. It seems like a different world, a world full of bright lights and kind people. Maybe it's a little poorer than One but it never had to struggle under the rule of the academy.

Aura would've been very happy there.

Fawkes sobs. I realise that he could've had such a bright future if the games hadn't taken him from his home. Régine squeezes his shoulder.

"You've brightened up my day every day since I was brought back," she says. "You accepted me as your district partner even though I was a monster last games. You gave me the courage to kiss Ageis. You'll see your home again, Fawkes. I promise."

I finish tying my bandage around Fawkes' leg. Then I take a deep breath and pat him on the shoulder.

"I never believed in honour," I say. "I thought it was a lie to get people to do terrible things. But I feel honoured to be your friend."

Fawkes beams at me through the tears. "I think you're slightly less unbearable than you were when we first met, Silver."

The three of us stay close together as lightning strikes the tree. For once in my life, I don't want to pull away. Having friends feels right.

Sankie laughs as the tree is illuminated by electricity.

"It's perfect!" She cries. "Absolutely perfect!"

I can't help but smile.

This is the first time I feel like our plan will really work. We have everything we need right in front of us.

We could all escape the arena. Sankie could hold onto the childhood innocence she somehow still has. Régine could finally be seen as the hero she is rather than the monster the academy forced her to be. Fawkes could recover from everything the games did to him.

And me… I'll finally get to spend time with real friends.

Régine Maurin, 18, District 3 Tribute POV

Fawkes and Sankie were arguing for the last twelve hours.

It wasn't a real argument. We'd had to decide what we'll pretend to do with the wire and the tree for the cameras. Sankie had jumped at the opportunity to propose all sorts of ridiculous ideas, mostly involving giant lasers, and Fawkes had jumped at the opportunity to shoot them down as smugly as possible. By the end, I'm sure they were just hurling random science words at each other. I wasn't paying attention the whole time. I already knew what I was doing.

Fawkes was the one who spotted arena force field. Despite his bad eyesight, he has a knack for spotting screens. Sankie found the weak spot in the force field. It's too high for any of us to reach but I'm definitely capable of shooting an arrow up there. If I shoot an arrow into the weak spot with a wire carrying the charge from the tree it should disable the arena's force field and give the rebels a chance to rescue us.

In theory.

Eventually, Fawkes settled on building an electric fence to keep Houghton and Eidolon from attacking us and the midday lightning bolt meant that our window to work on the tree had opened.

At first, Fawkes helped Sankie wind the wire around the tree but it was painful for him to move so he got Silver to help instead. Now he sits to the side, yelling instructions.

"How are we going to get the wire to stay around the tree?" He asks. "We can't just wind it around and hope for the best."

"Use a stapler," Sankie says.

"Do we have a stapler?"

"No…"

"Then how are we supposed to use a stapler if we don't have a stapler?" Fawkes cries.

"Are you okay, Fawkes?" I ask.

"No…" he says, his voice shaking. "I can't do this. I'm not smart enough."

"Didn't you work-"

"I was training to be a TV repairman!" Fawkes says. "I fixed TVs. I didn't stick wires to trees and hope for lightning. There was standard equipment I was taught to work with. And a reliable supply of electricity. Is this standard? Is this reliable? No, this is just chaos! This is nothing like my job!"

I take in the wild, helpless look in Fawkes' eyes. He's under so much pressure. I know he's running from everything he's been through over the last few days. I know that, sometimes, it all catches up to him. It's caught up to him now.

I sit down beside him. "We're so close."

"That's the problem," Fawkes says. "Now we're so close, I can see everything that could go wrong."

"So let's make a Plan B," I whisper, so the others can't hear. "In case this fails."

"We… we could."

"There are six of us left. You could win this, Fawkes, like normal."

"What about you?" He asks.

"There's always next Quell," I say. "I can wait. You can't. You've got someone waiting for you."

Fawkes hand moves to the parachute on his belt. Once we'd made it to safety, he'd wrapped the magnolia flower in the cloth for safekeeping.

"I understand," he says, his voice low and serious. He turns back to the tree, new determination burning in his eyes. "Any bright ideas, Sankie?"

"Sap," Sankie says, with a grin. "We can stick the wire to the trunk with sap."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Not much is happening in the arena on Day 3. All the tributes are far away from each other and none of them are moving so there isn't any fighting. Silver found his allies without any issues and now the rebels are starting to build their way out of the arena.

Also, Silver is figuring out that he's asexual and aromantic. I could've taken things in a different direction and made him fall for Moss or Drachma but it didn't feel right for Silver. Silver's greatest love is the platonic love he has for his allies and that's just as powerful as romantic love.